For a start is 6Kw really enough to ensure a 50mph top speed? Even if it is it doesn't sound like the acceleration will be up to much. With a couple of adults on board the weight will be 500kg or more, that gives a power to weight ratio of something like 16bhp/ton. Hardly enough to pull the skin of a rice pudding. If there's one thing that is necessary to keep you safe in a small vehicle in urban traffic it's sprightly acceleration, something that 16bhp/ton will not give you.
The next puzzle is the use of the word "recyclable". It's a marketing weasel word if ever I heard one. While these materials may be recyclable, so are most materials if you try hard enough. Saying they are recyclable tells us nothing about the damge done to the environment by their manufacture. If this thing wants to claim to be truly green then it should be made from recycled materials. It's interesting that most of the steel used in the world these days is recycled in as much as scrap metal is the main constituent in it's making. Wasn't there a story years ago that Fiat used steel from salvaged shipwrecks bought from the USSR? We don't hear car manufacturers shouting about their green credentials in using recycled materials do we? On reason for this could that the biggest harm done to the environment in making steel is in the smelting, not digging the raw materials out of the ground. So the question that needs to be asked is: What are these "recyclable" composites and what harm is done to the environment by their manufacture? If they are not willing to tell us then they can shut up about the materials being recyclable, it means next to cock all.
Another puzzle is the spec. It's designed for urban transport and it's pigging slow. So why brag about the 240 mile range? Surely that's not something their chosen target market will be bothered about.
My final puzzle is who they think their customer base is. Economical two seater vehicles are available today, but they are hardly popular. So have they discovered a large untapped market or are they deluding themselves?
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Puzzled
I'm puzzled by this.
For a start is 6Kw really enough to ensure a 50mph top speed? Even if it is it doesn't sound like the acceleration will be up to much. With a couple of adults on board the weight will be 500kg or more, that gives a power to weight ratio of something like 16bhp/ton. Hardly enough to pull the skin of a rice pudding. If there's one thing that is necessary to keep you safe in a small vehicle in urban traffic it's sprightly acceleration, something that 16bhp/ton will not give you.
The next puzzle is the use of the word "recyclable". It's a marketing weasel word if ever I heard one. While these materials may be recyclable, so are most materials if you try hard enough. Saying they are recyclable tells us nothing about the damge done to the environment by their manufacture. If this thing wants to claim to be truly green then it should be made from recycled materials. It's interesting that most of the steel used in the world these days is recycled in as much as scrap metal is the main constituent in it's making. Wasn't there a story years ago that Fiat used steel from salvaged shipwrecks bought from the USSR? We don't hear car manufacturers shouting about their green credentials in using recycled materials do we? On reason for this could that the biggest harm done to the environment in making steel is in the smelting, not digging the raw materials out of the ground. So the question that needs to be asked is: What are these "recyclable" composites and what harm is done to the environment by their manufacture? If they are not willing to tell us then they can shut up about the materials being recyclable, it means next to cock all.
Another puzzle is the spec. It's designed for urban transport and it's pigging slow. So why brag about the 240 mile range? Surely that's not something their chosen target market will be bothered about.
My final puzzle is who they think their customer base is. Economical two seater vehicles are available today, but they are hardly popular. So have they discovered a large untapped market or are they deluding themselves?